Effect of Maternal Exercise in Women with Obesity on Offspring Mesenchymal Stem Cell Metabolism

Obesity in pregnancy increases the risk for excessive adiposity in offspring. Our preliminary data and published studies indicate that exercise initiated during pregnancy in sedentary women with obesity lowers infant BMI z-scores and body fat percentages, especially when resistance exercise is included. However, there are few human mechanistic studies to assess how maternal exercise induces changes to infant cellular metabolism. Infant umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a unique model to explore offspring cellular phenotypes in humans. Our evidence suggests an improved cellular phenotype in infant MSCs from maternal aerobic exercise and even greater with resistance exercise. However, these MSC outcomes were observed in pregnant women without obesity, so it is uncertain if other modes of maternal exercise might improve the MSC phenotype associated with maternal obesity exposure. Our parent RCT is a longitudinal prospective study enrolling 284 pregnant women with obesity at <16 weeks gestation, randomized to aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, or usual care. The objective of this ancillary study is to use the MSC model to determine if maternal exercise mitigates the adverse effects of gestational obesity exposure. The overarching hypothesis is that resistance exercise will manifest improved MSC metabolism as compared to aerobic or control.

Scholars @ ECU